Still I Rise
by ThAs NyM
Summary: Cursed with misfortune he rises from the ashes of his own eternal abyss to become a being who he couldn't be in his past life. Will he succeed in his unique fantasy or will he fail once again. WARNING! M rated for gore, sexual content and total bad ass action.


Life by Default

Redemption for a Sacrifice

Dustan Demitri had no reason to live, not anymore that is. Born on the 19th of September 1986, Dustan had been cursed with the Gift 0f Misfortune, and so he had inherited the rare disease of Albinism. And this was only the least of his worries. What more, due to some complications during his birth had caused his mother to pass away. The death of his beloved wife a too much of a pain for his father Albert to deal with, so most of time he would be seen drowning his sorrows in alcohol.

A few years later, 4 years and 10 months to be exact, Dustan's Father had also passed away due to liver cancer. The young heir of the Demitri household was left in the living world as an orphan. Under a false agreement giving false hope Dustan was sent to the orphanage, but how could a child so young know whether the 'kind old man' was lying.

Dustan was left at the mercy of the Nuns who had ran the town's orphanage, there the boy had hoped to find some solace, it came in the form of a 20 year old female. A person who Dustan had thought to be his savior, salvation and family. The Sister had an innocent heart, she sympathized the young child. She had understood the pain of losing one's family. So her instinctual action was to support the boy and protect him, to save him. Her actions were not meant to give him false hope by saying everything was going to be okay, she understood clearly that the pain never leaves.

She was doing this so that the boy wouldn't succumb to darkness, and a reason she didn't yet know herself. The boy greedily accepted her hand, as if it was the only thing keeping him alive he had held onto her in a vice grip, reluctant to let her hand go, afraid that she would leave him alone as did everyone else before her.

And for once he had once again become able to smile, able to be genuine in his happiness as the years passed. But his unchanging Calamity soon followed,

It was a day same as any other, both Dustan and his 'Mother' were walking back to the orphanage hand in hand, he had just finished from his time in kindergarten, and to a promise he made to his mother, he had played valiantly in his football game and had managed to score a goal. Both made their way home Dustan talking animatedly about his time at school. All the while the Sister had a bright smile on her face.

Challenging his 'mother' who could get home first he removed his hand from her own and took off running. "DUSTAN!" A loud honk and a forceful push to his back was all the warning he got before Dustan found himself lying against the pavement to the side of the road.

His eyes wide with horror he stared at his mother figures blue eyes as the light left in them flickered until going blank. Blood ran the side of her face seeping from the wound on her head and scrapes that littered most of her legs and elbows, people who witnessed this were quick to call an ambulance for help but what was the use of all of it anymore, she was dead, his mother, the person he loved the most of everyone he had known was dead. 'It's all because of …. Me'

Regret, sadness, pain, loneliness was all he felt as he stood shocked as the people huddled around the dead body.

This was Dustan's curse, his misfortune, and the reason he had preferred a life in solitude during the rest of his life, the recent events along with Dustan's Albino appearance of white hair and red eyes, people deemed to name him as "The Cursed Demon" feared, unwanted by anyone Dustan was more than ever tempted to live by himself.

'At least no one else will be harmed'

But Karma wouldn't have allowed it to go as he pleased, two years after that fateful encounter the orphanage, well most of it was destroyed by a hurricane that just happened to pass through the town and miraculously left all other houses and the surrounding unscathed. While the town community assisted the orphanage by finding temporary adoptions as well as a trustee fund to help them recover. Alas no family was brave enough to invite the 'Demon' into their houses.

Due to no one willing to adopt him Dustan was transferred to the Vatican, head Church of England. Most people would thing that this was a new beginning or that it was a chance to right the wrongs of their past. But Dustan wasn't ignorant to the true colors of the world. The world isn't all black and white as they say, many shades of grey linger along tainting the darkness with malice. Dustan wasn't rescued he was thrown into a pit of lions. A far cry from people's belief the Church treated Dustan as if he was a stain, a stain that needs to be cleansed. The Vatican was filled to the brim with many Exorcist, Priests, Paladins and Saints all who had a common belief, of the world needs to be pure.

Upon Dustan's arrival spread the rumors of a demon child defiling their sacred grounds, enraged the people whom he later dubbed his tormentors all but nearly killed him on the spot. If not for the Saint Serene, a person the people of the church considered a messenger of God, a Prophet and Voice of reason stopped them. She was only a small girl. Only a year older than Dustan by appearance. Yet she emanated an aura of authority.

But Dustan refused to accept her kindness. He couldn't allow the girl to suffer the same fate as all that chose to interact with him before. So there he went through harsh _Purification Rituals_. This continued on for years. And seeming to have had enough Dustan had tried to flee, to run faraway, as far as possible.

But the Exorcists wouldn't allow it, their reasoning being they cannot allow a Demon to roam free. They would keep him in a cell, a place he had familiarized as his room during his stay, staring at the grey ceiling. He was thinking of a way to run away again, and wished for a sign to be given to him, anything….

Just then as if replying his prayer the lock securing his cell unlocked itself. 'Okay? I didn't see that coming' thought the boy in confusion.

'Follow the light' a soft, humble, all what somehow familiar voice whispered in his ear.

'What light? Who_' cutting of his thought a golden orb appeared before his eyes, floating in mid-air. To say that Dustan was shocked would be an understatement. He was baffled.

'Follow, hurry' there was an urgency in the female's voice. Seeing as nothing risked nothing will be gained the 14 year old boy followed the orb as it flew through the corridors. The light lead him through a series of turns and passages and the voice kept giving him directions telling him what to do.

When the Demitri heir finally reached the destination he found a girl waiting at the far end of the tunnel he was currently exiting. The orb of light was held at the palm of her hands. A dazzling smile adorned her face as the wind billowed her pale blonde hair. A few words were exchanged before she had run off back into the building through the tunnels.

It had been years since their parting, Dustan tried to live a secluded life, keyword being tried, his attempt of a normal life was futile. The small village he had taken residence in was raided and the children and women were sold as slaves to a fat royal.

There he was recruited into the military, children trained to be a weapon, some youngsters couldn't endure the harsh teaching. And only a few were alive at the end of the trials. Dustan was lucky enough to be more tolerant to pain, a tolerance he acquired during his time back in the Vatican.

More things transpired making most of Dustan's life a living hell for him. He had to endure, he must survive, he willed to live another day, hoped everything was a bad dream, just a nightmare and nothing more. Believing that the next morning he will wake up into reality.

/ -3 years later-\\\

Dustan now lived a life of a mercenary, skilled in many martial-arts of fighting and strategy. Assigned as squadron leader he had left a group of 7 men all older than him yet each and every single one of them respected and obeyed him. It didn't matter age to them they were all soldiers trained to obey, to serve, to kill

Those that were in authority had earned that respect and so had Dustan. The 17 year old teen had been serving, fighting, bleeding for the past three years. He didn't fight because he wanted to obey the _filth_ whom the other obeyed, No, he was fighting for his comrades, friends. He was fighting for his family. That was what his squadron meant to him. And yet…. He couldn't save them. The Slave trader was apparently caught by the Government and had spilled all the beans. And now their 'Master' wanted to save his own ass and assigned a suicide mission for everyone.

Halfway through their mission to escort a 'ambassador' to a fallen angel territory his squad was ambushed, Dustan had been lucky to survive but it was all at a price, all of his family had been massacred, they were all outnumbered and the 'filth' had provided his squad with faulty, useless equipment. He was once again left alone, all alone.

 _Revenge!_

Then and there Dustan had made a vow, a vow that promised pain. 'Where ever you are, where ever you run, where ever you hide, **I'll kill you….. Alexander von Servos!**

And that promise was fulfilled, a year later on the same date his comrades died Dustan drove a dagger through Servos' skull. But that didn't mean he had survived himself, bullet wounds gashes and a red coat of blood covered his very being as he stood upon the cliff behind Servos' Mansion.

'I managed to keep my promise' Dustan solemnly thought as his feet slipped from the edge. 'At least one of them…..sorry Amelia I couldn't keep my promise to you' the wind harshly impacted against his face. He was already in so much pain he didn't feel any even when his body bounced off the ground after hitting rock bottom below. Dustan took his final breath.

"Wakey wakey sleepy head" a chisel soft voice was heard. Dustan's red eyes flickered open only to look directly into crimson ones. A heart shaped face framed by pinkish salmon hair looked down at his lying form with an emotion akin to mirth. 'A girl?'

Seeing by appearance she had a petite stature, her long pink hair cascaded down the small of her back reaching to her hips. Her attire consisted of a revealing skimpy skin tight frilly dress, separate ling wide sleeves were attached to her arms as such representing arm warmers, black combat boots that reached her knees and a bat-like headpiece attached to the top of her head resembling bat wings.

"Are you a cosplayer?" Dustan asked without even a hint of reluctance. He was sure she was going to refuse and say something like BWAHAHA I AM A DEMON FROM THE PITS OF HELL and go onto a monologue.

"Yeah, why'd you ask?" the girl replied somewhat confused how the human err…. spirit she met just now knew one of her hobbies, that was all Dustan needed to hear before he closed his eyes wiling himself to wake up from this horrid dream "Hey! I'm talking to you and have been waiting a hell lotta time for this so don't you dare GO TO SLEEP!" the girl screamed yanking at the boy's collar.

Dustan opened his eyes once again to see that the girl was …..pouting, she was innocently, adorably pouting as if she was a 10-year-old who was refused a toy she liked.

'I know that I have a wild imagination but this amount of cuteness is way beyond my level of imagination, this is way too overboard. I must seriously be hallucinating' Dustan thought annoyed as the girl kept ranting off about being ignored.

"Begone illusion's let me die in peace" he offhandedly shooed the girl away forcing her to stumble and fall on her butt cheeks.

"An illusion am I?" the girl grumbled as she stood up. A small buzz can be heard as lightening formed from her palm. The intensity increased to such an extent the sound replicated that of a thousand bird calls. The split second the lightening left her hands Dustan leapt off from his position, his years of training and instinct allowing him to gracefully escape the luminous light that stuck the ground.

He stayed in a crouched Defender position for a brief moment before his facial features contorted into one of confusion. He was sure he was all bloody and dead, but now he was all cleaned up, was it the girls doing. He was able to register pain where a stray strand of the lightening had struck

'Pain …..I felt that so, I'm not dreaming that's for sure, does that mean I'm …..alive?'

As if hearing his thought's the girl giggled "Luckily you are definitely _Dead_ , I was appointed for spiriting you to the Afterlife so be a doll and follow me" the girl cheekily ordered as she summoned a scythe out of thin air and ripped a whole through time and space.

Dustan chose this moment to give the most intelligent retort and response. "Huh?!"

'I must have hit my head really hard but was that ….magic, does it even exist?' thought a dumbfounded Dustan. Once again the girl replied the unasked question. "Of course, magic is present in this world even in the afterlife. Humans are just not aware that's all, well mot humans actually, if you are having a hard time accepting this think of it like this, do you believe in God's?"

"Hey stop reading my mind will'ya, it's a very creepy feeling another mind in my own, and to answer your previous question no, no I don't believe in God's I stopped believing the time the people I cared the most….." his voice became solemn at the end as painful memories of his past flickered in his eyes. The female standing before him was somewhat startled that his eyes became so cold, she had felt as if she was standing before her father on one of his bad days, considering the boy was a human turned spirit a few minutes ago, she was terrified.

Forgetting her previous conversation and trying hard not to stutter she called to get his attention. "L-let's just go, we can't s-spend more time on earth" in that instant Dustan's eyes shifted back to reality, the tense atmosphere that unknowingly encased the environment dissipated.

Both finally entered into the rift, albeit Dustan was a bit reluctant at first he somehow was excited about all this. A few steps into the portal everything blurred from his vision and he found himself in a white colored room, a white throne room to be exact.

As if seeing a bright light in a dark room his attention fell onto the girl who brought him here, she was sitting on the throne, her black themed clothes contrasting the room itself. "I'm actually supposed to send the people I spirit to Big Boss up ahead but since it's my first time doing something like this I would really appreciate if you don't mind talking with me for a while, you don't mind do you?" her head tilted to the side almost making the boy fawn over her adorable words and actions, almost that was, his instincts honed from experience allowed him put the thought's back.

"I don't actually mind at all but I don't even know your name"

"Wouldn't it be courteous for the gentleman to introduce himself first" she replied with an amused look.

"For someone claiming to be a Death god shouldn't you know the names of the people you spirit away?" His reply somewhat surprised the girl and it was evident on her face. Then a smug expression appeared.

"If you really want to know oh so desperately I guess I have no choice but to honor you with my name, my name's, harbinger of the afterlife and heiress of the DeathGod's, I've conquered many people's lives, an_"

"Didn't you say I was the first spirit you actually spirited away?" this had actually struck a chord the girl deflated like a balloon. She tried to give a retort but all that escaped her mouth was incoherent words. "Some Death-God you were" Dustan teased but it seemed to have been too much.

His last comment registered into Death's mind as an insult to her species, a black miasma of energy exploded from her body, it continued to grow evolving, increasing in potency as well as density. The ground below her feet cracked into spider webs and her eyes seemed to glow a vibrant red. The temperature of the room seemed to increase a few degrees as her scythe manifested itself.

" **You insolent brat, how dare you mock us God's. We control the essence of life itself, we decide who lives and dies, and you dare disrespect, we can kill anyone with a snap of _** " her breath suddenly hitched in her throat as she looked ahead. Dustan was still standing as before, away from her, but something had changed, and realization and instincts told her that it wasn't in her favor, he looked down at her, his eyes lifeless even hollow of any emotion's except for rage, anger, and all the horrible things possible. His cold gaze made Death want to crawl into a small box and hide, just to escape from his eyes. But she couldn't, her entire being was petrified, it refused to budge an inch, not even her eyes were willing to avert its gaze from the boy's wrathful eyes.

" **Tell me this….what was the reason"** his voice was laced with absolute hatred and terrifyingly full of malice. Death's knees buckled but refused to fall down, not by her own will but because it was no 'allowed'. His voice reminded her once again of Hades.

"R-reason?" she squeaked out as her breathing was still labored by him.

" **The death of Rachel, the Nun whom your people took away from me when I was seven"**

"I-it wasn't me, but t-the order came from up H-heaven so I don't know" her eyes were closed shut, tears threatening to fall from them, Dustan's eyes shifted back to their normal brighter shade.

"… sorry about that" he apologized as he moved away before sitting in the tiled floor. Feeling as if a tremendous weight had been lifted from her shoulders Death was able to move. Her mind was screaming her to get as far away as possible from the 'beast' sitting in-front of her but her actions were the total opposite.

Walking upto him she sat beside him and looked at him apologetically, "I'm sorry as well, I had heard about those orders before it was carried out but I was…..too weak, the others had higher authority a-and *sob* I'm really sorry Dustan" she cried as she pulled her knees closer and buried her knees into them. This had always been a contradicting feeling for the young Death-God, she in all her life was treated as if she was a princess, but no one considered her an entity of power, not even her peers. She had stood against everyone when such an order came but….

A small weight pressed on top of her head and ruffled her pink locks. She looked up to see that it was Dustan. "It wasn't you're fault, nor was it mine. It's just that we both were weak at the time, it doesn't matter how much the weak rebel against the strong we are bound to lose." He cupped the girls face and gently swiped away her tears as he continued, "we may be weak but we can grow stronger and fight to live another day" he explained with a smile. "And if anyone was to say to me you were weak they must be total idiots, you are strong far stronger than me." His alluring gaze was addictive, a small dust of pink appeared on Death's face as she stared at the boy before her, she was so mesmerized by the way his words rolled out of his lips she didn't realize what she was doing until a hand covered her mouth. "Whoa! What are you doing!?" Dustan called out hastily. Blinking in surprise Death found herself to be leaning against Dustan's side, her left arm gently resting against his chest while the other had somehow ended on the boy's cheek, if anyone were to see this even a fool would have guessed what was happening.

" **HAhahaha this is so amusing!"** A masculine laugh bellowed from behind the both of them, Startled Dustan turned around instinctively entering into a Defender stance while Death gave a loud 'EEP' and moved away from Dustan. A boney figure sat on the previously empty throne, a scythe held in his right and his attire consisting of a dark black cloak. Dustan was somewhat confused as to why Death was now ramblings while her face was now the same shade as her hair.

" **At last my daughter has chosen to interact with a male, for a past decade I was worried you would be marrying one of your female friends"** The reaper spoke in genuine relief, this caused the girls face to become even more redder.

"IT'S NOT LIKE THAT FATHER!" she screamed her scythe manifesting in her right hand as she leapt off towards her 'father'. But her attacks phased through the skull faced reaper who disappeared after giving Dustan a thumbs up and saying 'you have my permission just don't impregnate her just yet'.

"NOOOOO! Why that bastard! How could he think I was doing…..things so….intimate" her fury soon changed into embarrassment as she remembered what she had almost done.

"Was that…." Dustan left the question hanging.

"Yeah… that was Hades, well a thought projection of him" Death replied meekly embarrassed by her father's antics. 'I really HATE you father.'

"Hey Death…." Dustan called gaining her attention, she looked back at him a smile present on her face while inside her mind she was finally able to overcome the previous embarrassment. "Umm…. What's impregnate?"

And returned her rage once again full-force.

\- A long few hours later-

Hour went by as the both of them kept talking, Death had explained about the supernatural ecosystem. She had expecting Dustan to have a hard time taking in all of the new information but surprisingly he didn't. Dustan had absorbed all of the news at a hypertensive speed. Although he was somewhat confused why she had given him a lot of details about the living world, and thus he decided to ask.

"Hey Death, since I'm now a spirit what would happen next?" Death pondered about the question before replying.

"Well normally souls such as yours will be sent through a rebirth cycle and wait till Judgement. But since you are my first spirit I'll give you another choice" she replied with a smile. "Dustan what do you think about resurrection?"

"Hmm I guess it's not a bad deal but what's the catch?" his suspiciousness tone caused Death to giggle.

"There are certain criteria's for resurrection such as there's Devil resurrection where you will need a High-class devil and evil pieces, there's also Angel ascension, but both are troublesome to go through so hmm…..let's try Forced Resurrection!" she cheerfully exclaimed. "But for a human spirit to do this first we have to make you into a mage, Oh yeah I have to make you into a mage before the next few years so let's go!"

With that Death had grabbed Dustan's hand and went off to who knows where.

-10 years later-

The place could only be described as a barren wasteland, the cause being many disintegrated trees, uprooted tree stumps, and craters that littered the entire clearing. If a person were to say that this was a luscious green forest a few seconds ago none would believe and some would even go as far as to calling that person crazy. Another large bang followed by a flash of black flames exploding into a mushroom cloud that filled everything around the clearing in a mile radius.

All this destruction was caused by a single person, he could be seen floating in midair standing on an intricate black magic circle, the center of the circle hummed as if it was breathing and helped the person standing on it from slipping off.

"Not too shabby…don't you think?" he said aloud if someone was standing beside him, just then the air shimmered in a blackish mist before a girl appeared out of nowhere. "Hmm could have used a few bright colors but meh who cares" she finally spoke.

"Ha-ha very funny Death" the boy replied sarcastically before floating down to the ground.

"Hey Dustan! I meant that you know!" the girl whined to the boy as she followed him.

"I'm not conjuring a rainbow foe my spells and that's period" Dustan replied irked before snapping his fingers " _Time Arc: trojin selores revivale"_ he chanted and the whole forest clearing was surrounded by a mystic circle, the dead trees fixing themselves as if time was reversing itself, by the time they both landed on the ground everything had returned to its previous state.

"Anyways I've heard from Rosaline that black is now very out of fashion these days but I just yesterday got these clothes, what do you think" Death asked as she twirled around in a frilly black dress that had a separate skirt along with multiple straps, elbow length gloves and knee-high laced combat boots, again all in black.

"I guess you could change or tweak the color a little bit _"Preseque de fronto aliros reddon"_ with that her clothes shifted in color leaving a small zigzag pattern along with a typical school girl skirt that had a mix of red and black. The gloves and boot also got a red trimming around them. "Now I'll say you look fabulous".

Death's face lit up at the compliment, but quickly hid it from the boy. She twiddled with her fingers fumbling to get words out of her mouth. Due to Dustan being clueless about such romantic stuff he had dubbed her shy moments as a 'girl' thing.

Today was the day of his Resurrection he was somewhat excited but his gaze then fell on Death, he had got to know how she acted for certain reasons. If someone else was to look at her they would see her face scowling, but Dustan knew she was sad, and only one reason came to his mind, his departure.

So he walked upto her and wrapped his arms around her causing the girl to give out a surprised squeak before she buried her face in his chest, tears fell from her face as she cried.

"Shhh… Don't worry I'll be back soon" when he said that she had punched him in the gut, even when tears fell down her cheeks he could see that she was angry at his words. "I'm getting you a new chance to live and you are already taking about dying if you want to be dead so bad don't bother going back!" but then a mile adorned her face. She was conflicted, her inner self wanted to make him stay with her but her mind screamed at her to keep her promise.

"The spell takes time to prepare so come on" she said dragging him by his sleeves.

After a few minutes of walking both had made it back to the throne room. The roomed had remained the same as 10 years ago, same as both of them. This was because spirits aged differently than living beings.

Dustan stood in the middle of the room, his magic energy flowed to form an intricate design beneath his feet, Death stood to the side chanting some spell he didn't understand, he could make out many chants involving claim and revive but the other he had not been able to pick up. His magic circle was frozen the next second. Death then moved to the center of the circle standing directly infront of him. She held her hand to the side and her scythe manifested itself. While still chanting she ran her index finger along the scythe's blade. She had them swiped the finger across her lips painting them red.

She placed her left arm against his chest as she tiptoed, the next second Dustan found something soft covering his lips, his cheeks dusted red as he realized what was happening, but before he could protest Death had pressed herself closer and slid her tongue deep in his mouth. Energy seemed to flow into his very being, it was welling up at a rate he couldn't comprehend.

Then it exploded as if it was a firework ripping the time and space it was as if the very fabric of existence was being disrupted. Death moved a few steps back whispering three words into his ear, Dustan wanted to return those words to her but before he could the entire world became a white blur to him.


End file.
